Lea Cetera (b. 1983, Brooklyn) works in sculpture, video, and performance, often amalgamated into installation. She utilizes techniques culled from theatre and film-making to address constructed identities and the psychological spaces we construct and operate within, engaging with the mediation of technology, the alienation of the human body, and the aura of the object fetish. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, and is currently an adjunct professor at Cooper Union and NYU Steinhardt.The frame on the right is what's running on the LED panels at the gallery right now — top row is the outer-state stream, bottom row is the inner-state stream.
Rainbow Lobster (2022) emerged from seafood (2018 iteration)Rainbow Lobster (2022) emerged from seafood (2018 iteration)Rainbow Lobster (2022) emerged from seafood (2018 iteration)
Empathy extends beyond human and mammal boundariesEmpathy extends beyond human and mammal boundariesEmpathy extends beyond human and mammal boundaries
The artwork · live now
Frame 03 / 07
28 resonances
In the show — Matrixed Systems
Rainbow Lobster
Rainbow Lobster (2022) emerged from Seafood (2018). Painted and nickel-plated steel, wood, formica, ceramic, resin, and recycled plastic bags — a cage structure resisting direct viewing of the video images held inside. The work moves between sculpture, video, and slow-flashing text, asking how images and bodies hold agency under control. Empathy extended beyond mammals into marine life; the labor of display made visible.
Outer state — what they meant to say.
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Rainbow Lobster (2022) emerged from seafood (2018 iteration)
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Found YouTube footage of deep-sea creatures prepared for sashimi
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Empathy extended beyond mammals into marine life
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Cage structures resist direct viewing of video images
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Expanded steel frames complicate access and perception
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Video, text, and sculpture operate as a single system
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Slow-flashing language interrupts speed and consumption
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Work asks how images and bodies hold agency under control
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Inner state — what was coming through underneath.
bottom button
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Empathy extends beyond human and mammal boundaries
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Shock at normalized violence hidden inside everyday media
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Deep sensitivity to systems controlling bodies and perception
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Desire for slowness in a culture driven by speed and consumption
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Tension between looking and resisting being looked at
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Frustration with repetition, structure, and mediated processes
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Grief, care, and ethical attention braided into making
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Art as a way of holding discomfort without resolving it
